Monday, 30 July 2012

It's been a hectic week and the coming week looks the same as I prepare for Claymore on Saturday. Nevertheless I'm still trying tio finish the odd soldier or two. Further yet I've actually painted some 15mm all by myself... These are the first short dudes I've painted in about 4 years- my last being a somewhat abortive attempt at a Greek Hoplite army using Xystron figures- fiddly little chaps nice though I managed 8 before I passed them over to Jim the Painter. That however is by the by these littel fellas were much easier.

These are Rhodesians from the early 70s- before they got all uniformed up. They could be RLI or SAS in the field regs were very lax until late 77.

The second pic is a little larger. These are 3 of my 40mm chaps 2 Romanoff and a mixture- The Officer beinga Jacdaw body with Sash and Saber head and Romanoff arms. All 3 have been re-based on 25mm round bases and have had battle damage touched up - occupational hazard with disply figs .
As for rebasing Dave Huntly- Northumbrian Wargamer has a point its a pain but I never re-base merely because a ruleset says I should. I simply wanted a more elegant look to these figures.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

Continuing from the previous post I finally managed to extract the pictures of our recent 10mm Malburian game using farmer DFavws collection .

the first picture is a general view of the field- British in the foreground the defending French huddling in the village and along their baseline.

The British advance to mask the village- expecting to take a bit of stick.

The French chuck in a cavalry charge on a disordered battalion but the Britsh second line tidies up.
Odd rule I though cavalry can't apparently charge formed infantry- despite the fact that it happened all the time- Minden for a start and Ramilies I think . Perhaps room for a bit of tinkering here.

On the British Right the assualt goes in while the British cavalry fart about Sackville like (double 6).

The French retreat off the table covered by their guns- the British horsde don't get moving as fast as they should but the British have the day.
Thefigures were all 10mm from Daves collection- mostly Old Glory with a few Pendraken french dismounted dragoons- you can see their yellow hats near the village..The basing suited the set unit sizes of BPand I'd certainly be more inclined to use them for smaller scale figures and larger less personalisedactions than 25-40mm where I want different parameters in a game. Whilst still not a complete convert BP does have its moments. It would just be a better product without the pretty rich boys showing off pages- about 2/3rds of the book.

Monday, 23 July 2012

Last Saturday saw 5 TWATS in the pub again- nothing unusual there Gaentle reader but after my previous strictures upon "Black Powder" Farmer Dave thought we'd have another Bash so putting down his sheep for the afternoon Dave brings along his splendid 10mm Malburian collection and along with Tom and Neal the Numbers elects to run a game using the aforementioned Black Powder. Big Andy grimaces at this point - perhaps even muttering the while into his pint.
However in the event all went well. I'm forced to revise my opinion of the rules. Not the book you understand - which is still full of pointless guff and twaddle- but the rules themselves which, in the hands of chaps who have the patience to wade through aforesaid guff and twaddle, worked rather well. Massivly better than I expected.
The armies helped, based the way they were - the set unit size- which I hate for 28mm games - is a boon for the smaller scales which are bytheir nature rather more impersonal Infantery were based in "Half Battalions"- so 2 to a battalion and cavalry in Squadrons so 1-3 in a British regiment depending upon strength at the time and place.
See dave spelndid blog Northumbrian Wargamer- as my pics are locked inside my camera the USB lead having gone walkies!
Nevertheless a fine time had by all and while I still have issues with the rules- too generic for a start- although Malburian it could have been any time in the first 75 years of the 18th century- the flow- despite the IGOUGO system was pretty good.
So as the rules fill about a third of the book Black Powder is worth a tenner of anybody's money... pity its thirty quid !1

Saturday, 7 July 2012

Now I'm not one of those single minded wargamer chappies who can start at one end of a silver mountain and with little painting arm going like a fiddlers elbow in the middle bit of the Bum of the Flytle bee paint an army to the exclusion of all else. One may admire these fellow doncha' know but they make you feel just a tad unconfortable- sipping their Ovaltine whilst they paint burning the misdnight oil to finish those Hoplites... One MAY admire but you wouldn't want to BE one- there are too many pubs, too many malt whiskies too much more world for that kind of malarkey.
Which Gentle reader is merely a roundabot way of saying that even in Wargaming Terms I'm a bit if a Dilitante.
I like doing different stuff.- So There.
Which brings me to this small collection of figures. Picked up over the last few year in often shocking condition. It all started with a bundle of hard to find Minifigs 30mm figures
- not common these days -separate arms and a bit fiddly.Then I aquired some Minot 30mm Grenadiers of the Guard and a few stadden Brits with a few Minot amongst them.
What I thought to actually do with them. A retro look seemed obvious- Charge style Napoleonic? Possibly - so a little at a time I painted 'em up and gave them a gloss varnish- very unfashionably shiny- fine Blog that ! and no doubt an influence here

So here we see the Grenadiers- all Minot 30mm bar the Minifigs Officer. Could use some more of these- or indeed any Minot 30mm Napoleonics.

Here we see the Shiny Chasseurs- well the 1st 3 completed ones- the Officer is a Suren Murat somehat converted and - since the Chassuers were horseless I've use a mix of Stadden and Jacdaw horses. I have about another half dozen of these to do.

And here the French General - A suren figure on a Jacdaw horse.
Needless to say there are Britsh too- though not so many yet- this is a very occaisional project as the mood takes me so to speak.

All Stadden here - except for the pair of wounded- Minots again. The cast flag was a painting excercise that I'd wanted to try for a while . I'm quite chuffed with the result.

Finally the british- reinforced by my only 2 Minot Highlanders are chareged by the shiny Chassuers.
Oh- Shinyloo?- Its Waterloo only shinier !!

Well here we go again another box another army I'd sort of forgotten. To be honest "Army" is putting it a bit strong. There are a total of 73 painted 28mm figures- all Old Glory from the Wars of Religion range. Yes I knew I had them but not where or how many there were. Like quite a lot of the part armies and odd units that I've accunulated during 20 years in this business it tends to start with
"Hmm New Range- better do a unit or two for the display case at shows and for some photos"
Quite often that's as far as it gets. I've a list of units of various sorts for sale Many pro-painted that have done their duty and had their photos taken. Time permitting- and once I decide which ones can go the journey I'll post on here with pictures. I know I have Mycenaen and Trojan chariots I can say goodbye to and some Polish Winged Hussars. Like wise some Cowboys and Pirates- all of which have appeared on the OGUK website .
However when it come to these lads I can't make my mind up

English troops of the mid 16th century. The Earl of Leicester took troops like this to help the Dutchagainst Spain.

Landsknect Musketeers of the 1560-80s period in very very silly trousers! According to Montluc you could here them coming a mile away- so they don't get to surprise you - startle Yes Appall possibly but not surpise !
Now as for other stuff I must sort out. I've a pro-painted 1st Maori Wars collection somewhere. Never been out of its box since I bought it 12 or so years ago ......

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Here we see some of the up and coming figures from Drabant. A polosh Infantry Command set- with bagpiper no less. A Great Northern War Swedish cavalryman and- a slight departure this- a Britsh Infantryman of the 7 Years War

These are due for release soon and I'll have some of the others to catrch up with stockwise once I build up enough wants for a decent order.
I'm sure you'll agree that these new figures are well up to the Drabant Standard.

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About Me

I've been in the Wargaming/ Military Modelling/ Military History hobby since about 1970 . In that time I've had a go at most aspects including Re-enactemnt and Blackpowder shooting. Aside from the hobby I like "Old Masters" painting Victirian Genre painting and Englis Watercolurs . Irish and Scottish Whiskies, Fine dining and real Ale.
I also collect Antiquarian Books. mostly but not all Military.